Apparatus for making a buckle and strap assembly

ABSTRACT

AUTOMATIC ASSEMBLY APPARATUS MAKES ADJUSTABLE STRAP ASSEMBLIES COMPRISING A LINK AND A DOUBLE EYELET BUCKLE AT TWO ASSEMBLY STATIONS. AT THE FIRST ASSEMBLY STATION, THE ADJUSTABLE SECTION IS THREADED THROUGH THE LINK AND BUCKLE, CUT OFF AND TIPPED. AT THE SECOND ASSEMBLY STATION, AN ANCHOR SECTION IS APPLIED AND THE ADJUSTABLE SECTION IS COMPLETED.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Charles Block 2,955,730 10/1960 Sonntag et al. 223/49 North Bellmore; 3,150,804 9/1964 Edelman 223/49 [011 Mina, SYOSSEI, N.Y. 3,422,999 1/1969 Fischer 223/49 211 Appl. N0. 860,777 3,497,116 2/1970 116mm 6! al 223/49 E22 giled d ieptis, 13;? FOREIGN PATENTS 4 i 661.586 11/1951 Great Britain 223/49 [731 Assgnee Undmame' Assembl'es' 686,468 1 /1953 Great Britain 223/49 Copiague, N.Y. 7

Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-G. V. Larkin [54] APPARATUS FOR MAKING A BUCKLE AN Attorney-Dane Hoopes STRAP ASSEMBLY 7 Claims, 15 Drawing Figs.

[52] 0.8. CL... 223/49 511 1m. (:1 A4lh43/00,

A41 h 37/08 0f Automatic assembly apparatus makes adjustable 223/49 strap assemblies comprising a link and a double eyelet buckle at two assembly stations. At the first assembly station, the ad- [561 Rekrences cued justable section is threaded through the link and buckle, cut

UNITED STATES PATENTS off and tipped. At the second assembly station, an anchor sec- 2,848,l47 8/1958 Alfandre 223/49 tion is applied and the adjustable section is completed.

BUCKLE 1st STATION LINK 1st BUCKLE STATION 2 nd. STATION LINK 2 ncl STATION 77' PATENTED JUH28 1971 SHEET 1 OF 3 LINK 1st STATION BUCKLE 1st STATION ANCHOR SECTION ADJ USTAELE SECTION BUCKLE TIPPED END LOOP INVENTORS Chafles Block 2. eon J.- 'mtz BY dear ATTORNEY PATENTEn-Jumwn 3,587,947

SHEET 2 BF 3 STATlON OPERATIONS Tl I B 1 K B "an T1 m: (P1

L A &:m A

T1 fcl LD INVENTORS es Block & Leon J.Mintz ATTORNEY PATENTEMuuzsm I 3587,94?

I SHEET 3 OF 3 lNVENTORS Chafles lock &

BY been J. lintz ATTORNEY APPARATUS FOR MAKING A BUCKLE AND STRAP ASSEMBLY This invention relates to an apparatus for making a buckle and a strap assembly for garment shoulder straps. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus for making an assembly wherein a twin eyelet buckle with a center bar carries one end of a strap which loops and passes back through the buckle to terminate in an end sewn to the garment. A link or single eyelet is disposed in the loop of the strap. The assembly is completed by an anchor strap which loops through the link and has its ends sewn together to the garment.

In prior art, there are devices for threading straps through buckles to form an'adjustable slip or brassiere strap. Many of these devices, such as disclosed in the lneson U.S. Pat. No. 2,222,033, present means for holding the buckle and the link at a single station while the actual threading is done manually or by a threader blade operated by a treadle. Other apparatuses such as Alfandre U.S. Pat. No. 2,742,205 are concerned with making assemblies including special three-opening buckles and which enable the adjustable strap to be fixed at a selected position' in the buckle. Some of the prior apparatus make assemblies with double eyelet buckles with an interrupted crosspiece whereby the adjustable strap may be simply doubled widthwise and poked up through the center of the double eyelet device to undouble and catch on the two fingers of the crosspiece. Some introduce staples by which the end of the strap is secured to the buckle.

It is an object of this invention to provide an automatic apparatus which will produce a simple fonn of adjustable garment strap which employs a simple, flat double eyelet buckle with a solid crosspiece and no staples or other device.

Another object of this invention is to provide a garment strap assembly machine which is compact and fast in operation. A further object of this invention is to provide apparatus of automatic operation including means for automatically tipping the end of the slip strap and binding together the ends of the anchor section by means of an impact fusion technique as disclosed in our patent application Ser. No. 476,502 filed Aug. 2, 1965, now continued as Ser. No. 696,664 filed May 12, I967.

Further objects of the invention will be clear from reference to the following specification including the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary schematic perspective view from above and in front of an apparatus embodying the invention and showing the guideways of an apparatus embodying the in vention with partly assembled garment straps at the first and second stations thereof. The strap tapes are shown in phantom;

FIGS. 2 through 8 show in a very simplified schematic fragmentary form the steps performed at the first station in the guideways;

FIGS. 9 through 13 show the operations at the second station in a similar way;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged simplified end view of a bundling clamp; and

FIG. 15 is an enlarged showing of an assembled garment strap made by equipment in accordance with the invention.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, apparatus embodying the invention is shown in FIG. 1 and comprises an upper buckle guideway BG and a lower link guideway LG. These guideways are fixed to a frame (not shown), and mounted on the frame about the guideways are instrumentalities which perform the assembly operations shown on the other sheets of drawings. Preferably as shown in FIG. 1, the guideways BG and LG are disposed horizontally and each comprise a pair of parallel spaced rods grooved out at their confronting surfaces to receive the buckles or links respectively in sliding relation.

As shown in FIG. I, the buckle and link of a given assembly are worked at two different stations, a first or rear station wherein the buckle and link are together aligned with a first tape supply (not shown) and various instrumentalities for performing the first station operations, and a second station. In

the second or forward station, the same buckle and link which have been moved there from the first station are together in alignment with a second tape supply (not shown) and instrumentalitie's to complete the assembly. After the second station operation, the assembly is ejected out the front end of the guideways for collection and use.

FIG. 15 shows a finished adjustable strap assembly. It comprises a buckle of the double eyelet type having a continuous crossbar disposed centrally of it and presents a pair of spaced openings. It also comprises a link which is simply a rectangular opened shape. In practice, the buckle and the link may be of rigid plastic or metal and may be colored to match or contrast with the color of the tape used. The tape, also part of the assembly, is of nylon and the adjustable left section extends from its tipped end in and out through the openings of the buckle back through the link then forward in an upper run in and out through the openings in the buckle and terminates in the sewon end. The buckle, carrying the tipped end, may be slid along the upper run to make the section adjustable. A second fixed section of tape called the anchor is of shorter length and passes through the link and is doubled-back and bonded to itself to form the second sew-on end.

In use, of course, the sew-on ends are attached to the garment to provide an adjustable shoulder strap. The product is very desirable because the buckle and link are flat and of single thickness. They do not present a bulky shape and hence do not present the unsightly shapes and bulges in the outer garment of other strap types.

For simplicity, in FIGS. 2 through 13, the guideways BG and LG are not shown. Instead, the buckle B and the link L are shown in the same relative position as they would be if disposed in the guideways. These relative positions are constant throughout FIGS. 2 through 13.

In FIG. 2, tape T1 from a supply of tape (not shown) is fed from the right to a free position underneath the buckle B. A threading blade T81 is then driven upwardly through the opening in the link L and through the rightward opening of the buckle B. This threads the end of the tape Tl through the rightward opening. The blade withdraws.

The next step is shown in FIG. 3. A second threading blade TB2 comes down vertically from above and drives the free end of the tape Tl downwardly as shown through the leftward opening of the buckle B. The blade then withdraws.

In the next operation at the first station (FIG. 4), a clamping bar C1, from a position shown in dotted lines, is driven over in a horizontal direction and clamps the free end of the tape against the anvil A.

In a subsequent operation (FIG. 5), a length-developing bar LD moves from the position shown in dotted lines vertically down to the position shown in solid lines developing the length of the tape from the dotted line to the solid line as the tape is drawn from the supply reel.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the yoke Y has straddled the tape and with the length of the tape now (FIG. 5 developed, the yoke is activated to give the tape the tipped configuration shown. This is in accordance with the disclosure in the Alfandre U.S. Pat. No. 2,289,472 and also in accordance with the above-mentioned pending application. With the tip twirled as shown in FIG. 5, the center of the tip is then struck from above (FIG. 6) by the impact fusion tool I which engages the twirled tip at spaced points sharply against the anvil A to impact fuse the layers of tape thus created together in accordance with the method described in the above-identified application. At the same time, a knife K descends cutting off the end of the tape against the anvil.

As shown in FIG. 7, the next step is that the length developer LD moves downward a small distance farther to the position shown to pull the tipped end of the tape snugly I that the rightward opening of the buckle is free for passage of the tape. With the tip in this position, the threading blade TBl is driven upwardly once again, as the clamp C1 relaxes its grip on the free end of the tape. The upward movement of the blade TBl moves the free end of the tape up through the link L and through the rightward opening in the buckle B so that the assembly at the end of the first station operations has the configuration shown. The blade then withdraws.

At this point, the entire assembly is moved to the second station. This is accomplished by means (not shown) driving the buckle B and the link L simultaneously toward the front of the guideways (FIG. 1). Immediately thereafter, clamp C l returns to its leftward position (FIG. 3) and P1 returns to its rightward position (FIG. 7). Also, the driving means return to the buckle and link supply (not shown) and place the two new buckles and links in the first station position whereupon the operation described in FIGS. 2 and 8 is thereupon performed on the new parts.

In moving forward to the first station, the portion of the loop below the link L encounters the inclined fixed pin P2 which deflects to the left, as shown in FIG. 9, the portion of I the tape Tl below the link L. The second station, as explained, is in alignment with a second supply of tape (not shown). A free end of the second tape T2 is extended from the supply out to a position shown just under the link L. The deflection of tape Tl avoids interference with the tape T2 and avoids the deflection of the free end of the tape T2 into the opening of the link L which could cause jamming. Subsequently, a threading blade T83 moves downwardly from above to tuck the free end of the partially assembled tape Tl through the leftward opening of the buckle B and into the waiting jaws of the clamp C2 which thereupon close. The threading blade TB3 then withdraws.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 10, the free end of the tape T2 is threaded upwardly through the link L by a threading blade T84 and into the waiting jaws of the clamp C3 which thereupon close. The blade then withdraws.

Clamp C3 (FIG. I1) then draws the free end of the tape T2 rightwardly, developing its length from the supply roll (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 12, the impact fusion blade l2 then comes sharply down on the two ends of the anchor section AS binding the two layers together in accordance with the above-mentioned patent application. Simultaneously a knife K2 comes down and severs the tape to complete the assembly.

In the final operation (FIG. I3), the clamp C2 moves leftwardly to shorten the length of the adjustable loop as shown and to place the free end of the strap over the bundle with other awaiting strap assemblies.

As shown in FIG. 14, a bundle-holding clamp C4 has a pair of spaced fixed jaws with inwardly directed teeth T having downwardly inclined distal surfaces. A vertically movable upwardly biased floor F is disposed under the teeth T and presses the accumulated strap ends up against the teeth. After each new strap end is drawn over the bundle-holding clamp C4 by clamp C2, the stacking element E is brought down forcing the strap end to buckle widthwise and enter between the teeth and become part of the bundle. Element E then retreats upward and the teeth hold the new strap in the bundle as the floor F raises.

Once the end of the completed strap assembly is safely in the spring-biased clamp C4, the buckleand link-moving means shove the completed buckle and link out the open end of the guideways and the assembled end, now free, drops to the position shown in FIG. 13. Upon completion of this operation, the next assembly which is now partially completed at the first station moves to the second station for completion. When the desired number of straps are present in the bundle, the bundle is bound together at the clamp and the bundle drops from the clamp C4.

Throughout the application, little reference has been made to the exact instrumentalities by which the various steps are accomplished. In a preferred version, the various elements,

the threading blades, the tape feeding means, and the clamps are moved by pneumatic cylinders, each cylinder at the end of its stroke initiating the next step in the operation. Alternatively, solenoids may power the various elements and these solenoids may be operated by appropriate timing means. The mechanics, exact construction and dimension, will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art.

By means of the invention described, it is possible to quickly and easily assemble and thread a very simple and serviceable slip strap assembly. This is made possible by the two-station operation which permits work on two units simultaneously. The two-station arrangement affords ample space for the instrumentalities necessary to accomplish the threading operation to be mounted at various positions around the stationary guideways.

We claim:

I. Apparatus for making a buckle and strap assembly wherein a link connects an anchor section and an adjustable strap section, and a twin eyelet buckle with a center bar carries one end of the adjustable section to slide along the length of the adjustable section which comprises:

a. guideways, one for the link and one for the buckle, the guideways holding the buckle and link horizontal, the buckle above the link;

b. means for feeding a link and buckle into an aligned relation in the guideways at a first station;

c. means at said first station for supplying tape and threading the lead end of the tape up through one opening of the buckle, over its center bar and down through the other opening;

(1. means at said first station for severing the loop so formed from the tape supply and means for forming an enlarged tip at said severed end adjacent the said one opening of the buckle;

e. means at the first station for threading the lead end of tape through the link and a second time upwardly through the said one opening;

f. means for moving said buckle and link along said guideways with the attached tape to a second station in alignment with a second tape supply;

g. means at said second station for feeding the lead end of attached tape downwardly through the said other opening of said buckle to complete the adjustable section;

h. means at said second station for threading the lead end of tape from said second supply through said link; and

i. means for severing the anchor section from the second tape supply and binding together the ends of the anchor section to complete it.

2. An apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein means are additionally provided at the first station to move aside the enlarged tip of the adjustable section in order to make way for the said second threading of the tape through said one openmg.

3. An apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein the means for threading the anchor section tape from said second supply includes means to deflect the portion of the adjustable section loop under the link away from the second tape supply, means for advancing a leading end of the second tape supply, unsupported, under the link and against the said portion, and means for poking the said leading end of the second supply up through the link.

4. An apparatus as described in claim 1 also including means at the first station for pulling the tipped end up closely adjacent the said one opening of the buckle prior to the threading of the lead end up through the link and the said one opening.

5. An apparatus as described in claim 1 including means at the second station for taking the lead end of the adjustable section and placing it in a bundle with the lead ends of the adjustable sections of previously completed assemblies, and means for holding the bundle temporarily together.

6. An apparatus as described in claim 5 wherein the means for holding the bundle temporarily together comprises a clamp having fixed open jaws with inward teeth, the opening between which is narrower than the tape, an upwardly biased movable floor under the teeth and means to press each new end through the opening between the teeth.

7. Apparatus for making a buckle and strap assembly wherein a link connects an anchor section and an adjustable strap section, and a twin eyelet buckle with a center bar carries one end of the adjustable section to slide along the length of the adjustable section which comprises:

a. parallel guideways, one for the link and one for the buckle, the guideways holding the buckle and link horizontal, the buckle above the link;

b. means for feeding Mink and buckle into an aligned relation in the guideways at a threading station;

c. means at said threading station for supplying tape and threading the lead end of the tape up through one opening of the buckle, over its center bar and down through the other opening;

d. means for then drawing out the length of tape to the desired extent;

e. means at said threading station for then severing the loop so formed from the tape supply and means for forming an enlarged tip at said severed end'adjacent the said one opening of the buckle;

f. blade means for then feeding in a single stroke the lead end up through the link and through the said opening in the buckle. 

